Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
- Tradition
- Taoism
- Era
- Ancient
- Region
- East Asia
- Lifespan
- 6th–4th century BCE
Lao Tzu
老子The semi-legendary founder of Taoism.
Lao Tzu, whose name means “Old Master,” is a semi-legendary figure of ancient China, traditionally placed in the 6th century BCE as a contemporary of Confucius. Modern scholars debate whether he was a single historical person at all; the Tao Te Ching itself likely took shape over generations.
According to the historian Sima Qian, Lao Tzu served as keeper of the archives at the Zhou court. Disillusioned with the decline of society, he is said to have departed westward on a water buffalo. At the frontier pass, the gatekeeper Yin Xi begged him to record his wisdom — and the result was the Tao Te Ching, the “Classic of the Way and Virtue.”
Whatever the truth of the legend, the text attributed to him became one of the most translated and influential works in human history, the cornerstone of philosophical and religious Taoism and a perennial touchstone for ideas about nature, leadership, and the limits of language.